Applications for generating visual effects, such as video editing, compositing, and motion graphics applications, may use plug-ins to produce certain effects. For example, GenArts Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., provides plug-ins packages for several different applications for generating visual effects (called host applications). Some examples of host applications that GenArts plug-ins can be used with are: Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, and Autodesk Flame. GenArts plug-ins are available in different versions depending on which host application they are compatible with.
Visual effects plug-ins can usually generate a multitude of possible results depending on how a user of the host application sets parameter values and options within that plug-in. This flexibility gives users an open-ended toolbox of new looks. Once a specific combination of parameter values has been found, the user can instruct the host application to save that combination as a “preset” on the user's computer. The user can load the preset again later and apply it to different film or video clips to achieve similar looks again.
Although plug-ins are generally provided for several different host applications, plug-in presets for different host applications are typically not compatible with each other because they are in different host application-specific formats.